The Lost World
by Quintian- The Dovahkiin Dwarf
Summary: It has been four years since the disaster at Jurassic Park. The park and its Dinosaurs destroyed and the island permantely closed to the public. But there are rumors something has survived... Sequel to Queen's Blade: Project Raptor
1. Isla Sorna

**Isla Sorna**

**87 miles southeast of Isla Nublar**

* * *

135-foot luxury yacht is anchored just offshore in a tropical lagoon. The beach is a stunning crescent of sand at the jungle fringe, utterly deserted. On the beach, two ship hands, dressed in white uniforms, have set up a picnic table with three chairs on the sand and are carefully laying out luncheon service; fine china, silver, crystal descanters with red and white wine. Paul Bowman, forties, sits in a chair off to the side, reading. Mrs. Bowman, painfully thin, with the perpetually surprised look of a woman who's had her eyes done more than once, supervises the setting of the table. She looks up and sees a little girl, Cathy, seven or eight years old, wandering off down the beach.

"Cathy! Don't wander off!" she shouted.

Cathy keeps wandering.

"Come back! You can look for shells right here!" Mrs. Bowman continued to shout at Cathy.

Cathy gestures, pretending she can't hear.

"Leave her alone, Deirdre!" Paul shouted at Mrs. Bowman.

"What about snakes?" Mrs. Bowman asked.

"There are no snakes on the beach. Let her have fun, for once." Paul said.

Down the beach, Cathy keeps wandering away, muttering to herself as her parents' quarreling voices fade in the distance.

"Please be quiet, please be quiet, please be quiet . . ."

Rounding a curve in the beach, her parents disappear from view behind her. A rustling sound draws her attention, and she turns, toward where the thick jungle foliage gives way to the sand.

A large bush, maybe twelve feet tall, is moving, its branches swaying and shaking. Curious, Cathy walks up to the bush, which abruptly stops moving.

A small, lizard-like animal, dark green with brown stripes along its back, steps out from the bush. Only about a foot tall, it stands on its hind legs, balancing on its thick tail. It walks upright, bobbing its head like a chicken.

"Well, hello there!" Cathy said to the animal.

The animal just stares at her. Cathy squats down on her haunches.

"What are you? A little bird or something?" she continued.

She opens her hand. She has a handful of goldfish crackers.

"Are you hungry? You want a goldfish?"

The animal draws closer. Cathy holds the cracker in the palm of her hand. The animal gets closer still…

And hops nimbly up onto Cathy's palm. Her arm dips a bit under the weight, but it's not that heavy, and she holds it up easily. It bobs its head and scarves up the goldfish.

Enchanted, Cathy breaks into an enormous grin and turns her head, calling back over her shoulder.

"Mom! Dad! You gotta come see this! I found something!"

She turns back.

Thirty more animals have come out onto the sand. They're standing there, bobbing anxiously, staring at her from a few feet away. Cathy's smile fades.

She turns her head slowly to the right. Twenty more animals have come in from that side, forming a semi-circle, bobbing and chirping as they surround her.

"Wh-what do you guys want?" Cathy asked nervously.

Back at the beach

The table is set. Mrs. Bowman calls out.

"Cathy, sweetheart! Lunch is ready!"

From around the curve of the beach, a flock of birds bolts from the jungle trees as Cathy's shrill suddenly pierce the air.

"PAUL!" Mrs. Bowman shouted.

She takes off, running down the beach, Paul leaps out of his chair and follows, and all available deck hands race off to help, kicking up geysers of sand behind them.

Mrs. Bowman stops dead in her tracks when she rounds the bend in the beach. Mr. Bowman and the Hands race past her to help Cathy as Mrs. Bowman let's loose a horrified, slack-jawed scream, her mouth a perfect oval.

**InGen Headquarters, Ganios**

Peter Ludlow, late thirties, a man with the anxious look of someone on those desk the buck stops. Ludlow flips open a file, pulls out a stack of black and white eight by tens, and tosses them on the table.

"These pictures were taken in a hospital in Hinomoto forty-eight hours ago, after a family on a yacht cruise stumbled onto Site B. The little girl will be fine. Her parents, however, are wealthy, angry, and very fond of lawsuits. But that's hardly new to us." he said before pulling out a paper from the file.

"Wrongful death settlements, partial list: family of Irma, 36.5 million dollars; family of Yimr, 23 million; friends of Claudette Vance, 12.6 million. Damaged or destroyed equipment, 17.3 million. Demolition, de-construction, and disposal of Isla Nublar facilities, organic and inorganic, one hundred and twenty-six million dollars. The list goes on - research funding, media payoffs. Ohhh, Silence is expensive."

He's just warming up. Not a bad performer.

"This corporation has been bleeding from the throat for four years. You have sat patiently and listened to ecology lectures while Count Vance signed your checks and spent your money. You have watched your stock drop from seventy-eight and a quarter to nineteen flat with no good end in sight. And all along, we have held a significant product asset that we have attempted to hide, at great expense, when we could have safely harvested and displayed it for profit. Enormous profit."

He reaches out to a model on the table and gives it a shove, sending it sliding down the length of the table in front of them. It's a modern amphitheatre, with rows of cages built into the raked area under the seats. In the display area, there are tiny replicas of various kinds of dinosaurs; in the stands, Boy Scout troops and Tourists look in wonder.

"Gentlemen, this could generate enough income to wipe out four years of lawsuits and damage control and unpleasant infighting. And the one thing, the only thing standing between us and this windfall is a born-again naturalist who happens to be our own CEO. Believe me, I do not enjoy having to say these things about my own uncle. But I don't work for Mother Nature. I work for you." Ludlow said, clearing his glasses.

" 'Whereas the Chief Executive Officer has engaged in wasteful and negligent business practices to further his own personal environmental beliefs… Whereas these practices have affected the financial performance of the company by incurring significant losses… Whereas the shareholders have been materially harmed by theses losses. Thereby, be it resolved that Count Earl Vance should be removed from the office of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.' I move the resolution be put to a vote. Do I have a second?" Ludlow asked.

"I second the motion. Mr. Maguire, please poll the members by a show of hands." A board member said.

The Senior Board Member sighs heavily, feeling like a traitor.

"All those in favor of InGen Corporate Resolution 213C, please signify your approval by raising your right hand." Mr. Maguire said.

It starts slowly, guiltily, but every hand in the room goes up. Ludlow sits back, victorious.

Subway, Sheldon Free City

A subway thunders into a station underneath Sheldon Free City. The doors whoosh open, spit out some commuters and suck up a few more. A dwarf hurries down the platform, slowed by a limp. The subway doors begin to close, but just before they meet a dwarf jams a cane in between, stopping them. The dwarf is Eilin, dressed in . There's a hard wisdom in Eilin's eyes that may not have been there a few years ago. She knows that you think, and she doesn't care. Eilin finds a seat on the crowded subway car and sits down. She looks awful. Tired. Weathered. She notices a curious man across from him staring at him. Nervy, the Curious Man gets up and approaches.

"Shit." Eilin said under her breath.

The Curious Man sits down next to Eilin, grinning.

"You're her, aren't you?" he said.

"Excuse me?" Eilin said.

"The girl. The scientist. I saw you on TV." he said.

"I believed you," he said conspiratorially.

There was no response from Eilin. The guy leans in even closer.

"Roooooarrr."

Eilin gets up and moves to another seat on the car, away from the Curious Man. As she sits down, she notices two other commuters across from her are staring at her, that special look reserved for those involved in some kind of scandal.

Eilin looks at them. They look away. She pulls the collar of her coat up tight around herself.

**Vance's Apartment**

Eilin stands in the foyer of an expensively decorated Park Avenue apartment. A Uniformed butler faces him.

"Whom shall I tell Count Vance is calling?" he asked.

"Eilin. I've been summoned." Eilin said.

The Butler lets her in with a breaf nod.

As the Butler turns to go down the hall, Peter Ludlow walks out of the same hall, carrying a sheaf of papers. He sees Eilin and hesitates, then smiles tightly. They know and dislike each other.

"Well, . Here to tell a few campfire stories with my uncle?" Ludlow said.

"Do me a favor, Ludlow. Don't ever pretend you and I don't know the truth. You can convince Time magazine and the Skeptical Inquirer of whatever you want, but I was there. I know what happened and so do you." Eilin said argerly.

"You're lucky we didn't sue you. You signed a non-disclosure agreement before you went to the island that expressly forbid you from discussing anything you saw. You violated that agreement." Ludlow said.

"And you lied. Do you have any idea how you quick to condemn the academic world is? You cost me my livelihood. My reputation." Eilin continued.

"As I understand it, your university revoked your tenure for selling wild stories to the press, I hardly see how that's my…" Ludlow started.

"I didn't sell anything, I told the truth." Eilin said, snorting.

"Your version of it." Ludlow said, keeping his cool.

"There are no versions of the truth. This isn't a corporate maneuver; I'm talking about my life." Eilin said.

"We made a generous compensatory offer for your injuries." Ludlow reminded her.

"It was a payoff and an insult. InGen never-" Eilin began.

"InGen is my livelihood, Dr. Malcolm, and I will jealously defend its interests." Ludlow interuppted.

"In a few weeks time, it'll all be moot. And your problems will long forgotten." Ludlow continued.

He starts to walk out, but Eilin catches him by the arm.

"Not be me." She said.

"Careful," Ludlow said. "This suit costs more then your education."

Eilin enters a darkened bedroom. Count Vance lies in the bed on the other side of the room. Medical equipment has been disguised as well possible among the furniture and flowers, but the sheer abundance of it tells her that whatever has stricken him is going to win this battle.

"Eilin! Don't linger in the doorway like an ingénue, come in, come in!" Count Vance shouted from bed.

Eilin steps further into the room.

"It's good to see you, it really is. How's the leg?" Vance said.

"Resentful." Eilin replied.

"You were right and I was wrong. There! Did you ever think you'd hear me say that?" Vance said.

"Thank God for Site B." He said under his breath.

"Site B?" Eilin said in surprise.

"Isla Nublar was just a showroom, something for the tourists, Site B was the factory floor. It was on Isla Sorna, eighty some miles from Nublar. We bred the animals there, nursed them until they were a few months old, then moved them to the park," Vance began."After the accident at the park, Hurricane Clarisse wiped out Site B. Call it an act of God. We had to evacuate and the animals were released to mature on their own in the wild. Life found a way, as you once so eloquently put it. And for four years, I've fought to keep them safe from human interference."

Eilin looked at Vance, her gaze filled with surprise.

"Hopefully you kept this island quarantined and contained, but I'm shocked about all of this. You bred them lysine-deficient, didn't you? They should've died after seven days without supplemental enzymes."

"But by God, they're flourishing, aren't they?! I don't know how, it's only one of a thousand questions I want the team to answer." Vance replied.

"Oh, please, please don't tell me you were foolhardy enough to…" Eilin said.

"I've organized a group to go in and document them, to make the most spectacular living fossil record the world has ever seen. It's not been easy to convincing any of them about what they're going to see. In the end I had to use my checkbook to get them there. I'm covering all the expenses myself." Vance began. "Our satellite infrareds show the animals are fiercely territorial, they demarcate and defend specific areas and stay in them. The carnivores are isolated in the interior of the island, so the team will stay on the outer rim."

"How many lunatics are on this team?" Eilin asked.

Vance picks up a thick file folder from the night table next to him and opens it on his lap. Inside, there are memos, charts, maps, and photographs.

"Four." Vance said after he read the file.

"Four?! You should be going in there with the National Guard!" Eilin shouted.

"Exactly wrong! Ask any animal behaviorist, the best results come from the lowest impact, the animals shouldn't even know you're there. One observes and documents, but does not interact. Attempting to control the environment is where I went wrong the first time, you told me so yourself. I'm not making the same mistakes again." Vance said.

"No, you're making all new ones! My God, if you want to protect those animals, do the groundwork, get legislation passed! If you want to observe them, you do it safely, by satellite, or helicopter, but you don't just barge in there with a camcorder! Who are these people? What are their names?" Eilin said, her voiced filled with worry.

"Nick van Owen, a video documentarian; Eddie Carr, a field equipment specialist; we also have a paleontologist… and I hope you will be the fourth." Vance said, handing Eilin parts of the file.

Eilin looks at him with a "you're out of your mind" look.

"Do you even listen when I speak?" Eilin asked angrily.

"Public opinion is the only thing that can preserve Site B now. You have always been my harshest critic. If you come out as an advocate with me, it'll mean everything. I know how obsessive you can be once you truly embrace an idea. We can come forward, together, with ironclad proof of their existence." Vance said.

"You must already have proof. DNA splicing, the cloning, the births…" Eilin began.

"Only in captivity! I need to show them in their natural habitat to stir up emotional support for keeping that island pristine. This is my last chance to contribute something of real value. I can't walk so far to have left no footprints. I will not be known only for my failures, and you are too smart and too proud to let yourself go down in history as a hoaxster. Please. This is a chance at redemption for both of us." Vance said, pleading.

"That's selfish and grandiose. No, John, I won't go. Absolutely not. And I'm going to contact every member of your team and stop them from going." Eilin said.

He picks up the file from the bed and starts flipping through it.

"You didn't mention the name of the paleontologist. Who did you get?" Eilin asked.

Vance looks away guiltily.

"He came to me. I just want you to know that." Vance said.

"Who did?" Eilin asked, turning back to Vance.

"I want to be very clear about who approached whom." Vance said.

"Who are you talking about?" Eilin asked, though she thinks she already knows.

"Leave it to you, Eilin, to have associations, affiliations, even love interests with the best people in so many fields . . ." Vance began.

"You didn't contact Simon?!" Eilin said.

"There is no one else! Paleontological behavior study is a brand new field, and Sarah Harding is on the frontier. His theories on parenting and nurturing among carnivores have framed the debate for the last five years, who else could have - - what are you doing?" Count Vance asked.

Eilin is up, searching under piles of papers and dossiers on Vance's desk.

"Where's your phone?" She asked quickly and picked up his phone.

"You're too late," Vance said quietly. "He's already there."

Eilin stops and turns, a terrified look on her face.

"The others are meeting her in three days." Vance continued.

"You sent my boyfriend to this island alone?" Eilin said in a painful whisper.

"'Sent' is hardly the word, he couldn't be restrained! He was adamant about making the initial foray by himself. 'Observation without interference,' he said, went on and on about it." Vance said.

"What is it, you couldn't kill me the first time, so you recruited Simon to manipulate me into going down there again?! Is that it?!" Eilin said angirly.

"It wasn't intentional! You know how he is, better than anyone! After you were injured in the park, he sought you out, didn't he, traveled all the way to the hospital in Hinomoto and asked someone he didn't even know if the rumors were true! He's a firebrand once he's engaged on a subject, how could I refuse him the chance to complete his life's work?!" Vance said, shocked.

"This is criminal, and I will never forgive you for it. You want to leave your name on something, fine, but stop putting it on other peoples' headstones!" Eilin shouted.

"He's going to be fine. He's spent years studying predators, sleeping down wind and all that. He knows what he's doing. Believe me, the research team-" Vance began.

Eilin stands, resolute, making a decision.

"No, It's not a research expedition any more. It's a rescue mission. It's leaving tonight and I'm going with it." she said before walking out of Vance's room.

Vance looked at the file and then counted his fingers before smiling.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if there are any mistakes fill free to tell me! Also I could not think of anyone else, so bite me!**

**-Quintian **Creepy Kiss **X**


	2. Ms Cute

**Hinomoto Bar**

* * *

Cute - late teens possibly early twenties, skin like leather and the diamond hard look of a cobra - sits at a table in the middle of a Japanese cafe/bar. It's daytime and the place is half full, mostly with locals, but there are a few obnoxious tourists too, men from Ganios on safari who somehow found the local hangout. They're a noisy bunch, but Cute tunes them out, calmly eating her lunch and drinking a beer while she reads a book, eyeglasses hanging low on her face. Cute suddenly stops reading and furrows her brow. She looks up. She sniffs the air once, then smiles and calls out a person's name.

"Jean?"

She turns around. Jean, a wiry young man about the same age, is standing behind her, caught trying to sneak up.

"How did you know?" he asked, delighted.

Cute tapped her nose. "That cheap aftershave I send you every Christmas, you actually wear it. I'm touched. Sit down, sit down, what brings you to town?" she asked.

Behind them, the group of tourists laugh loudly. One of them berates the waitress.

"I got a call from a gentleman who's going to one of the islands offshore. If he's to be believed, it's a most, uh, unique expedition. And very well-funded." Jean replied.

"Well, I'm a very well-funded bitch. You go." Cute snorted.

One of the tourists bellows for the waitress. His buddies laugh. Cute throws them an annoyed glance.

"But alone? We always had great success together, you and I." Jean said, a little disappointed.

"Just a little bit too much, I think." Cute retorted.

"What do you mean?" Jean asked.

"A true hunter doesn't mind if the animal wins. If it escapes. But there weren't enough escapes from you and me, Jean. It all became rather routine, didn't it? I have no interest in being an executioner." Cute replied. Jean sighed before he continued.

"I have reason to believe you'd find this challenging." Jean said.

"Then it's probably illegal. These days, it's a more serious crime to shoot a tiger than to shoot your own parents. Tigers have advocates." Cute said before taking a sip of her beer.

The waitress comes to the tourists' table and then one of the tourist actually paws her ass. Cute is out of her chair in a second.

"Excuse me," Cute said.

Cute walks over to the tourists' table, says something to the waitress in the local dialect, and she walks away, behind her. She stares at the tourist.

"You sir, are no gentleman." She said.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" the tourist asked.

"I can think of none greater," Cute said.

The tourist looks at his buddies and laughs.

"Buzz off, you crazy bitch," he said.

"What do I have to do to pick a fight with you, bring your mother into it?" Cute asked, sitting on top of an empty table.

"Are you kidding? I could take you with one arm tied down," he tourist boasted.

"Really?" Cute said.

In the center of the floor, the waiter finishes tying Cute's wrist to her belt in the back of her pants with a napkin. He pulls the knot tight and Cute turns around. The tourist stands across from her.

"I meant my arm," the tourist said.

Cute punches him square in the jaw. The tourist reels, stunned. Enraged, he lunges at Cute, swinging with both arms.

Cute bobs, neatly ducking the punches, waits for the tourist to turn around, and pops him in the face. The tourist recovers and lunges at Cute.

This time Cute doesn't punch, she waves to the left and throws a hip, augmenting it with a foot sweep.

The tourist loses his balance and sails into a table, flipping it over and wiping out an older couple's lunch. He lands hard, the table on top of him.

A cloud of sawdust and loud cheer from the locals rise up in the bar. Cute then calmly walks back to her table.

Cute drops the napkin on the table and sits back down with Jean. In the background, the Tourist's buddies hurriedly carry their fallen cohort out of the bar.

"Sorry. We were saying?" Cute said

"You broke that man's jaw for no reason other than your boredom. Tell the truth, Cute. Aren't you even interested in knowing this expedition's quarry?" Jean asked.

"Jean, go on up to my ranch, take a look around the trophy room, and tell me what kind of quarry you think could possibly be of any interest to me." Cute said.

Jean just smiled.

* * *

**Eddie's Warehouse**

* * *

Large vehicles are being prepared by dozens of workers. In the background a huge, beefed-up trailer with a jungle color scheme is being worked on by several men. Eddie and Eilin walk along-side the vehicle. Eilin is engrossed in figuring out how to operate the satellite phone.

"You can't shave three days off my deadline and expect everything to be ready... I'm not fully supplied! I haven't field-tested any of this..." Eddie said.

"What's the point of giving him a satellite phone if it doesn't work? What's the matter with this...?" Eilin said.

"Could be anything... solar flares, satellite out of synch... maybe he even turned it off." Eddie said before calling out to his workers. "I need half air on the tires here guys…"

"Maybe he doesn't know how to use it..." Eilin said.

"What, are you kidding? He's faxed me refinements on fifty percent of the plans for this stuff…" Eddie retorted.

The phone still not working, Eilin hits it a few times on the fender of the trailer. Hearing that, Eddie turns on Eilin.

"Ow, ow, ow! Don't do that! You gotta baby it a bit... you gotta love it..."

"I'll love it when it works," Eilin retorted.

"It'll work when you love it," Eddie said, taking the satellite phone from Eilin. "Let me do it."

"Coming along Eddie?" Eilin asked.

"I don't like the field much... but in this case, I can't resist," Eddie said, looking down at the phone.

A white van backs up into the warehouse. Nick Van Owen gets out of the van and heads straight to the back of his van and opens it.

"Thanks for the two-minute warning, Eddie." Nick said.

"Nick Van Owen, this is Eilin. Nick's our field photographer," Eddie said, introducing Eilin.

"How do you do," Eilin said, shaking Nick's hand.

"Eilin's our… dwarf," Eddie said under his breath as Nick and Eilin talked.

Nick then starts unloading photographic equipment; video cameras, cables, metal supply cases.

"What's your... background? Wildlife photography?" Eilin asked.

"Wildlife, combat, you name it. When I was with Nightline, I was in Rwanda, Chechnya, all over Bosnia…"

A worker then walked up to Nick and took some of his equipment.

"Thanks. Did some volunteer work with Greenpeace once in a while…" Nick said.

"Greenpeace? What drew you there?" Eilin asked.

"Women," Nick said with a smile.

"Eighty percent female, Greenpeace," Eddie informed.

Eilin said nothing as she stood between the two men.

"Noble." Eddie said under his breath.

"Yeah, well, noble was last year. This year I'm getting paid. Vance's check cleared, or I wouldn't be going on this wild goose chase." Nick said before he walked away from the van.

Eilin then broke her silence.

"Yeah, well, where you're going is the only place in the world where the geese chase you!" She shouted after him.

Nick looks at Eilin, unconvinced.

From outside, Kelly, Eilin's stepdaughter, runs into the warehouse.

"Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom!"

Kelly then jumps into Eilin's arms

"Oh! Kelly my honey... you found it... What took you so long?" Eilin asked.

"Sorry," Kelly said. "I couldn't get a cab." "Sweetie, that's okay... Now listen... I gotta tell you, uh... something... I gotta talk to you." Eilin said.

Kelly's face suddenly became dark.

Kelly is slumped in a chair in Eddie's Office next to the construction floor. Eilin sits on the desk in front of her. Outside the glass windows, work on the vehicles continues unabated. Kelly looks at a slip of paper in her hand.

"I don't even know this woman." Kelly said.

Eilin looked a little surprised.

"It's Karen. You've known her for ten years."

"She doesn't even have Sega. She's such a troglodyte." Kelly murmured.

"Cruel, but good word use." Eilin said.

"Why can't I stay with Simon?" Kelly asked, getting and walks around, passing several architectural drawing tablets.

Eilin follows her.

"Cause... uh...Simon is out of town... Karen's fantastic! She said she'd take you horseback riding, to the movies. You're going to have a fantastic time." Eilin said, trying to convince Kelly.

Kelly finds another chair and kneels in it, swiveling around.

"Stop saying "fantastic"... Where are you going anyway?" Kelly asked.

Eilin sighed.

"It's only for a few days. I wouldn't be going if it wasn't really important."

"I'm your daughter all the time, you know. You can't just abandon me whenever opportunity knocks."

"That hurts my feelings. What, did your dad tell you to say that?" Eilin said quietly.

Eddie calls from over the P.A. system. "Dr. Eilin... downstairs please."

Eilin, ignoring Eddie, continues to talk to Kelly.

"Sweetie, I know we've had some hard going, but in the last couple of years. We've started to work things out. Hasn't it been better?"

Kelly gets up out of the chair again and walks around, Eilin following her.

"Yeah, but I want you to crack on me a bit, ground me, send me to my room! You never do any of that stuff." Kelly said.

"Why would I? Cause you turned out to be so beautiful, brilliant, powerful, funny, and generous? The queen... the goddess... My inspiration." Eilin said.

"Dr. Eilin." Eddie called again.

"I could come with you! I could be your research assistant like I was in Austin." Kelly urged.

"This is nothing like Austin. Uh- but anyway, you got your own stuff. You got your gymnastics competition. You've been training for months." Eilin pointed out.

"Gymnastics? I scrubbed out, Mom. I got cut from the team. Thanks for knowing." Kelly said, scowling.

"Oh... I'm sorry honey. I uh... know how much that meant to you." Eilin said.

"You like to have kids, but just don't want to be with them do you?" Kelly asked.

"I'm not the one who dumped you here and split for Ganios, so don't take it out on me!" Eilin yelled, slamming a drawer shut.

Kelly looks down. Eilin winces immediately. Now she's hurt her feelings.

"Dr. Eilin, downstairs." Eddie said impatiently.

Eilin started to head downstairs, but paused at the door.

"Honey... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Hey, you want some good parental advice? Don't listen to me... don't listen to me." Eilin said.

On the warehouse floor, Workmen are chattering and shouting.

"How're we doing here?" Eilin asked.

"Specs say it can't deform at 12,000 PSI, so we're just gonna test it. Well let's clear. Are we clear?" Eddie said.

Workmen ready a large reinforced metal platform above the trailer. It is pulled up by a series of wires and pulleys.

Eilin looked up at the platform.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's a high hide," Eddie said looking up. Eilin looked at him and put her hand near her ear, signaling she did not hear him.

"A HIGH HIDE. You know, you go up, and you hide... high. It goes up to where the trees are and keeps the researchers out of harm's way."

Eilin looked up at the high hide. "Actually... uh... it'd put them at a very convenient biting height."

Eilin and Eddie walk through the bustle of workmen. Kelly is nearby, walking towards the trailers.

"Um... what's the time? Do you have the time?" Eilin asked Eddie.

Kelly walks slowly around the trailer and walks up some steps, and enters the large vehicle. Eilin and Eddie can be heard talking from outside.

"Do I have the time? Why?"

"We're leaving in three hours."

"Whoa... whoa… whoa… whoa… three hours?" Eddie said, surprised.

Inside the trailer, Kelly walks through it slowly, staring at the large amounts of electrical equipment.

"Whoa... this is sooo cool." She said.

She approaches the back of the trailer, and stares at an illuminated map on the wall. It's a detailed map of a group of islands. "Las Cinco Muertes" can be seen next to the group.


End file.
